Investing.com – Russia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Telecoms, Oil & Gas and Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Moscow, the MICEX rose 2.50%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the MICEX were MMK (MCX:MAGN), which rose 5.44% or 1.020 points to trade at 19.780 at the close. MegaFon OAO (MCX:MFON) added 5.26% or 44.00 points to end at 880.00 and Sberbank (MCX:SBER) was up 4.64% or 4.25 points to 95.75 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Lenta Ltd (MCX:LNTA), which lost 2.65% or 12 points to trade at 441 in late trade. Niznekamskneftekhim ao (MCX:NKNC) declined 0.69% or 0.300 points to end at 43.200 and Aeroflot (MCX:AFLT) shed 0.57% or 0.29 points to 50.99.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 161 to 69 and 8 ended unchanged on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The Russian VIX, which measures the implied volatility of MICEX options, was down 7.02% to 41.740.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.28% or 3.10 to $1117.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 3.23% or 1.01 to hit $32.47 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 4.47% or 1.46 to trade at $34.02 a barrel.
USD/RUB was down 0.04% to 78.205, while EUR/RUB fell 1.98% to 84.034.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.06% at 99.14.